A look at some of the early numbers shows encouraging trends. The key, of course, is keeping fans interested while the team endures the inevitable struggles of playing more-established opponents. That category covers pretty much every school other than Campbell and Chowan, the teams the 49ers beat in the opening weeks.

If that trend continues, the school will consider a longer lead time for student ticket pick-up. It is 48 hours before kick-off now, leaving little time to sell the leftover student seats to the general public. (A waiting list of 4,100 people has first dibs to buy unused student tickets and has done so for each of the games this season. The athletic department encourages fans interested in buying single-game seats to join the contact list.)

Rose told me this week the trend follows what other universities are facing: students less eager to show up early or stay until the end of the game. Even in the Southeastern Conference, the top draw in college football, fewer fans are attending games.

“I’m like most athletic directors,” Rose told me. “I’d like the crowd to stay longer. (Students) aren’t coming to as many games (across the country).”

Most encouraging for Charlotte is the team’s TV interest. For the N.C. Central game on Saturday, the 49ers accounted for the largest local college football audience in the noon kick-off time slot. According to Nielsen, 38,900 households, on average, watched the game on CW affiliate WCCB.

Those figures compare well with the SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference midday games. Southern Miss vs. Arkansas on WAXN was watched in 5,300 TV homes while the early ACC game, New Mexico vs. Pitt, reached 1,800 homes on WMYT. Yes, those are dog games in the noon time period, but the 49ers, with no football history and no star attractions, fared well in a TV market where interest in SEC and ACC games runs high.

“Our ratings have been solid for all three games,” said Jim White, WCCB general manager. So much so that White and WCCB are considering the addition of a road game or two. College games with the broadest interest still trump 49ers games among local viewers. On Saturday, the much-anticipated Alabama-Texas A&M game on WBTV kicked off at 3:30 and 133,400 Charlotte TV homes, on average, watched.

Carolina Panthers games attract the largest audiences of all programs, sports or otherwise, in the Charlotte TV area. TV households for the first two Panthers games this season totaled 261,700 and 230,300, respectively.

“People are watching,” Rose said. “The branding we have seen, we have to give football credit for that.”

By branding, Rose means the TV audiences suddenly paying attention to the campus and the number of people on and off campus wearing hats, T-shirts and other apparel.

Based on anecdotal evidence, the athletic director said the campus, for the first time, is covered in school colors rather than a proliferation of jerseys and caps from more-established teams. That is a major shift, she said.

Heightened awareness can be found beyond anecdotes: Sales of jerseys, T-shirts, caps and other souvenirs at the stadium on game days totaled $72,000 for the first three games, slightly above projections.

Concessions at Jerry Richardson Stadium brought in $221,000 combined. The $87,000 in food and drink sales for the Aug. 31 debut was several times more than the school expected, Rose said. Overall, concession sales are 10 to 15 percent above forecasts, helped by stronger soda and water sales because of warm temperatures for the first two games, said Keith Wassum, UNCC associate vice chancellor for business services.

Cuts in state funding, tuition hikes and the staggering burden of student debt after graduation make it hard to justify spiraling athletic budgets anywhere. But if trustees, alums and students insist on having football, as most do, generating the sales to keep it afloat can help. Rose told me before the season that football will break even, but only on the backs of students, who pay hundreds of dollars in fees to support all sports teams. Most schools have similar fees.

Federal reports of college athletic departments show the wide range of revenue and expenses for different schools and teams. James Madison, this week’s opponent, generated $6.6 million from football in 2011, the most recent figures available. Expenses totaled the same amount, making the program a wash. James Madison plays home games in a 25,000-seat stadium.

Part of the Colonial Athletic Association, James Madison is a public school in Harrisonburg, Va., with 17,000 students. Charlotte’s enrollment is 26,000. According to the James Madison controller’s office, ticket sales ($1.9 million) and student fees ($3.8 million) accounted for most of the football revenue. Sponsorships and other items contributed just under $1 million more.

UNC-Chapel Hill, a far larger program in the ACC, took in $27.6 million from football in 2011 with $16.7 million in expenses, according to the filings. Schools use football and men’s basketball revenue to pay for expensive coaches’ salaries in those sports and to help pay for track, soccer and other sports that tend to run deficits.

Charlotte’s athletic budget ballooned to $21 million from $13.5 million over the past two years because of the addition of football. The cost of hosting six football games in 2013: $420,000.

WCCB signed a three-year contract to show 49ers football games. This season and next, the station has rights to all home games. In 2015, Charlotte enters the football bowl subdivision, a higher tier, as part of Conference USA. Moving to a conference means Charlotte no longer controls its TV rights until all conference media commitments are staisfied. Whatever games are not picked up by the conference TV contract revert to WCCB.

Charlotte keeps 30 percent of ad sales and receives the air time for free. WCCB retains the remaining ad revenue.